Door handling fixture



July 29, 1969 F. N. STEFAN ET 3,453,057

' noon HANDLING FIXTURE Filed July 1. 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORSFRANK N. STEFAN CHAUNGEY W. GANNETT ATTORNEY July 29, 1969 F. N. STEFANET AL 3,458,057

DOOR HANDLING FIXTURE Filed July 1, 1968 s Sheets-Sheet 2 2 FIG. 5

IJJPTI IZ'F INVENTORS FRANK N. STEFAN CHAUNCEY W. GANNETT ATTORNEY July29, 1969 F, STEFAN ET AL 3,458,057

DOOR HANDLING FIXTURE Filed July 1, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 //V VEN TORSFRANK N. STEFAN CHAUNCEY W. GANNETT ATTORNEY United States Patent US.Cl. 214-1 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A work table type fixturefor supporting a door during machining of hinge and lock recesses andduring the hanging of the door in an opening. This device has a casteredbase member with a substantially rectangular door supporting framepivotally connected to the base m such manner as to support a doorhorizontally in a plane to the floor. The base has a curved roll barattached thereto which is similar in contour to a curved leg memberattached to the end of the door supporting frame at the opposite end tothat which is attached to the base. The contour of the roll bar and theleg member are such that they readily permit the entire door handlingfixture to be rolled over onto either of its sides in order to hold thedoor in a vertical position with one of its side edges extendingupwardly for machining hinge or lock recesses. After the hinge and lockrecesses have been machined in the door edges, the door supporting framemay be tilted upwardly on the base and locked in a substantiallyvertical position to hold the door in the proper position for mountingin a door opening. The entire fixture and the door may be then wheeledto the opening where it is to be installed.

This invention relates to a work table type fixture for supporting adoor during machining of hinge and lock recesses and during the hangingof the door in an opening. The device will permit the door and thefixture to be tipped on its side for machining the door edges and willpermit the door to he stood on its end and raised and lowered toposition it in the opening.

Objects of the invention The primary object of the invention is toprovide a device to facilitate the handling of heavy wooden doors suchas those frequently used in industrial or commercial buildings and whichare of sufiicient weight that they are extremely difiicult for oneindividual to handle when machining hinge and lock openings and whenaligning with a door opening in which they are to be hung.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus in which theentire door handling fixture, with the door mounted thereon, can beeasil wheeled from the area in which the machining operation wasperformed to the location where the door will be installed withoutremoving the door from the fixture or without separating any parts ofthe fixture.

These and other objects of the invention will become more fully apparentas the description proceeds in the following specification and theappended drawings.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the fixture of this inventionsupporting a door in a horizontal position;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the same fixture shown in FIGURE 1 butwith the door supporting frame of the fixture having a door mountedthereon swung into a vertical position;

FIGURE 3 is a simplified end view of the fixture shown 3,458,057Patented July 29, 1969 in FIGURE 1 wtih a door supported in a horizontalposition thereon;

FIGURE 4 is an end view similar to FIGURE 3 but with fixture rolled overon its side to stand the door on one of its side edges;

FIGURE 5 is a simplified side view showing the fixture of FIGURE 2supporting a door in a substantially vertical position;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a segment of the doorsupporting frame with one of the suction cups used to secure the door tothe frame;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view showing one of thestops for engaging one of the side edges of a door;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the manner in which thedoor supporting frame is locked in either a vertical or nearly verticalposition on the fixture; and

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary view through a portion of the base member ofthe fixture showing a built-in jack type mechanism for raising andlowering the entire fixture and the door with respect to a door opening.

Preferred embodiments of the invention Referring now to FIGURE 1 of thedrawings, the entire assembly of the door handling fixture indicated bythe numeral 1 horizontally supports a door 2 indicated by a broken linein order to reveal the structural parts of the fixture which wouldotherwise be hidden by the door if it were shown in solid lines. Thefixture 1 has two main parts, one of which is the base member 3, and theother is the door supporting frame 4. It may be readily observed fromlooking at FIGURES 1 and 2 that the overall structure of this fixture ismade up of an open metal framework, part of which is constructed ofL-shaped angular pieces of metal. Other parts are made of metal tubingand other parts are made of flat or round metal bars. In order tosimplify the description of the apparatus and eliminate the need for alengthy specification, every individual structural part of the fixturewill not be described in minute detail but only the parts which bear adirect relationship on the operation of the fixture will be described indetail. It should also be recognized that this fixture, although shownas being constructed of metal, can also be made from wood or plasticparts or any material of sufficient strength to perform the desiredfunction.

Referring again to FIGURE 1, the base member 3 is constructed of aplurality of metal angular frame members which define the shape of arectangular solid. It is mounted of four casters 5 which permit theentire fixture 1, with a door thereon, to be easily moved from onelocation to another. The base member 3 has two upright outer cornerframe members 6, each of which has a short tubular sleeve 7 weldedthereto with the axis of each sleeve 7 being vertical. A roll bar 8having curved side portions 9, a flat bottom portion 10 and a flat topportion 11 has a pair of upwardly extending straight shanks 12 welded tothe top 11 of the roll bar 8 and extending upwardly in parallelrelationship to telescopically fit inside the sleeves 7. The relativeposition of the roll bar 8 with respect to the base 3, may be adjustedby moving the roll bar 8 to a desired height and then tighteningretaining bolts 13 in the sleeves 7 to bear against the shanks 12 andsecure the roll bar 8 in the desired position. The roll bar 8 isprovided with rubber covers 14 for cushioning the fixture and preventingit from skidding or marring the floor either when it is in an uprightposition or when it is rolled over on its side to machine the edge of adoor. The door supporting frame 4 is substantially rectangular in shapeand is made up of a tubular metal framework. The frame 4 is pivotallyattached to the base 3 by hinges 15 which engage a cross membed 16 onthe base 3 and a cross member 17 on the frame 4. The frame 4 has twolongitudinal frame members 18 welded to each end of the cross member 17and in addition, is welded to each end of a cross member 19 and anintermediate cross member 20.

For the purpose of describing the relative locations of the variousparts of this fixture, the end of the fixture carried by the base 3 willbe referred to as a front end, and the opposite end of the fixture willbe referred to as the rear end. The rear end of the fixture is supportedby a leg member 21 which is substantially identical in contour to theroll bar 8 located on the front end of the fixture and serves the samefunction as the roll bar 8 when the fixture is rolled over on its side.The leg member 21, like the roll bar 8, has a pair of curved sideportions 9, a fiat bottom portion 10, a flat top portion 11 and rubbercovers 14. Instead of the shanks 12, however, a pair of tubular uprightleg members 22 extend upwardly from the fiat top portion 11 of the legmember 21 and are pivotally connected at their upper end to the rear endof the frame 4 by bolts 23. A brace member 24 extends between each legmember 22 and one of the longitudinal frame members 18 to prevent theleg member 21 from pivoting about the bolts 23 when the leg member 21 isbeing used to support the rear end of the fixture 1. In order to releasethe braces 24 so that the leg member 21 may be folded toward thesupporting frame 4, a pin 25 is removed from the end of each brace 24where it joins the upright leg member 22. Each of the braces 24 is thenfree to pivot about a retaining bolt 26 while allowing the leg member 21to be folded. To prevent the pins 25 from becoming lost, they aresecured to the upright leg members 22 by chains 27.

A pair of rubber suction cups 28 are mounted on the top of each of thecross members 17 and 19 for securely holding the door 2 on thesupporting frame 4. The suction cups 28 are shown in FIGURE 6 attachedto a metal bracket 29 mounted on one of the cross members. A thumb lever30 rotates a cam 31 to cause the suction cups to either grip or releasea door placed thereon. This type of cam actuated suction cup is awell-known mechanical device and will not be described in greaterdetail, Mounted on both the front and rear end of the supporting frame 4are side stops 32, each of which is carried on a bar 33 passing througha thumb screw operated clamp 34 on One of the longitudinal frame members18 and through a center guide bar 35. All four of the stops 32 may bemoved transversely of the frame 4 to adjust to various widths of doorsand to position the door at a given location on the frame 4. The stops32 prevent the door from sliding sideways when the fixture 1 is rolledover on its side, as shown in FIGURE 4. After the fixture has beenrolled on its side and the door is standing on one edge, the stops 32contacting the upwardly facing edge of the door may be loosened andmoved away from the door edge to permit machining of the lock or hingerecesses. They may then be replaced in position against the door whenthe fixture 1 is to be returned to an upright position. In order to lockthe frame 4 in a horizontal position with respect to the base 3, a pin36 passes through the upper end of upright frame members 37 and into analigned hole in each of the longitudinal frame members 18. A chain 38attaches both pins 36 to its respective frame member 37 so that it willnot become lost in use. Whenever it is desired to swing the frame 4 intoa vertical poistion, the pins 36 are removed and the frame 4 is swungupwardly about hinges 15 until a hole 39 near the front end of each ofthe frame members 18 is in alignment with either a hole 40 or a hole 41located in an extension tab 42 welded to each of the upright members 6,as shown in detail in FIGURE 8. If the frame member 18 is pinned throughthe hole 40, the frame 4 and the door will be held in a slightly tiltedposition. If the frame member 18 is pinned through the hole 41, theframe 4 and the door will be held in a substantially vertical positionfor alignment with the door opening. The reason for providing hole 40 toincline the door and the frame 4 at an angle is to tilt the door in suchmanner that it will pass through a door opening through which therewould not be sufficient clearance if the door was in a verticalposition. A pin 43 provided for pinning each of the frame members 18 tothe tab 42 is fastened to the frame member 6 by a chain 44 to preventlosing the pins.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 9, a hydraulic jack 45 is welded to thecross members 16, 46 and 47 of the base 3. The jack 45 has an extensionrod 48 extending downwardly from an actuator portion 49 of the jack 45.A circular foot pad 50 is mounted on the bottom of the rod 48 todistribute the load exerted by the rod 48 on the floor when the jack isused to raise and lower the entire fixture for positioning a door at theproper height in a door opening. A pair of return springs 51 areconnected between the rod 48 and the cross member 47 to return the bar48 to a retracted position when the hydraulic pressure is released fromthe jack 45. A handle 52 is provided for pumping pressure in the jackand for releasing the pressure.

In normal operation, a door is placed on the fixture 1 with the frame 4locked in a horizontal position with pins 36 and with the leg member 21locked in position by pins 25 passing through the braces 24. After thedoor 2 is placed in the desired location on the fixture, the thumblevers 30 are moved to a position to actuate the suction cups 28 andsecure the door 2 to the frame 4. The side stops 32 are moved againstthe edges of the door and the thumb screws on the clamps 34 aretightened down. The roll bar 8 is permitted to rest on the floor and thebolts 13 are tightened to secure it in position on the base 3. Theentire fixture, with the door thereon, may then be tilted on eitherside, as shown in FIGURE 4, to perform the machining operation. Aftermachining has been completed, the fixture 1 is again turned upright. Thebolts 13 are loosened, the roll bar 8 is lifted off the floor and thebolts 13 retightened to hold the roll bar 8 in a retracted position topermit the base 3 to roll on the casters 5. The frame 4 may then beswung into an upright or an inclined position and pinned as previouslydescribed. The entire fixture, with the door thereon, may then bewheeled to the location where it will be hung in an opening. The frame 4is then pinned to hold the door in an upright position. The jack 45 maythen be used to raise the mixture and the door to the desired height foraligning the door in the opening. After the door is on the hinges andsecured in the opening, the stops 32 and the suction cups 28 arereleased and the fixture is moved away from the door.

Various changes can be made in the illustrative embodiments shown hereinwithout departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable fixture for supporting a door during machining of hingeand lock recesses and during the hanging of the door in an openingcomprising:

(A) a castered base member;

(B) a door supporting member pivotally connected to the base of tiltingmovement from a substantially horizontal position to a substantiallyvertical position;

(C) a curved roll bar attached to the base member to facilitate rollingthe entire fixture on its side;

(D) a leg member of a contour similar to the roll bar attached to theend of the door supporting member opposite the end which is attached tothe base to cooperate with the roll bar when the entire fixture isrolled over on its side;

(E) locking means associated with the base member and the doorsupporting means to fasten the door supporting means to the base ineither a substantially vertical or horizontal position;

(F) means removably fastening a door to the door supporting means; and

(G) a means for raising and lowering the entire fixture with a doorthereon for aligning the door in an opening where it is to be hung.

2. A fixture as claimed in claim 1 including auxiliary stop means toprevent the door from sliding sideways on the door supporting memberwhen the entire fixture is rolled over on its side.

3. A fixture as claimed in claim 1 wherein the leg member is pivotallyattached to the door supporting member to permit it is to be folded whennot in use and a means 10 to fasten the leg member in an unfoldedposition when it is to be used.

4. A fixture as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for fastening thedoor to the door supporting means is a plurality of suction cups.

5. A fixture as claimed in claim 1 where the major parts of the fixtureare made of a Welded metal framework.

6. A fixture as claimed in claim 1 wherein the roll bar is verticallyadjustable with respect to the base member so that it may be lowered torest on the floor or raised to permit the base member to roll on itscasters,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,689,156 10/1928 Rutfner.2,503,388 4/1950 Hedlund 2141 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner F. E.WERNER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

